“Clermont Avenue, south from Lafayette Avenue, showing St. John's Roman Catholic Chapel (white building) and the Church of the Messiah (cone-shaped Steeple). June 21, 1941.”

Today, St. John’s is the Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School, named for the first Catholic Bishop of Brooklyn. In 1868, Loughlin and the diocese of Brooklyn purchased land on Clermont Avenue with the intention of building a massive cathedral. He was ultimately unable to finance the project, but did build the Bishop’s residence at the northeast corner of Clermont and Greene Avenues.

The Church of the Messiah was razed after a five-alarm fire in February 1969. The distinctive “beehive” steeple was added after a previous fire in 1910 destroyed the original steeple and belfry.